DETERMINATION OF TICARCILLIN IN HUMAN PLASMA AND IN URINE BY REVERSED-PHASE LC

A liquid chromatographic assay for ticarcillin (ticar.) in plasma and urine is described. For analysis, the internal standard cefoperazone ( cfp) is dissolved in acelonitrile, which is used for precipitating the protein. The supernatant is evaporated, reconstituted in running mobi le phase and injected directly onto the reversed-phase C-18 column, wi th detection at 205 nm. The mobile phase is composed of water-acetonit rile-o-phosphoric acid-tetramethylammonium chloride (TMA). Coefficient s of variation for reproducibility were in the range of 2.2-15.5% for extra-low, low, medium and high controls. Limits of detection were 0.5 mu g ml(-1) for plasma and 1 mu g ml(-1) for urine. No interference f rom other cephalosporins or other antibiotics was noted. This liquid c hromatographic assay is simple, accurate, requires no extraction and o vercomes previous problems related to the drug's peak splitting due to isomerization.